layering sweet peas If you want sweet peas with spectacularly long, perfectly straight stems and lots of large flowers on each stem, it's a good idea to layer them, but this does involve tonnes of work. When you are rea
dahlia variabilis 'bishop's children' | why sarah loves this Sarah explains why she loves these brilliant, richly coloured flowers set against dark crimson foliage. A truly magnificent dahlia for a pot, is ‘Bishop’s Children
how to create a christmas tealight chandelier (two ways) Two great ideas for our Tealight Chandelier – decorated with rustic moss and berries, or classic ivy and silver baubles, it will look wonderfully festive hanging above your Christmas table this year
sarah's chelsea flower show garden 2017 In 2017 Sarah Raven was invited to design a garden for the famous RHS Chelsea Flower Show. Sarah's show garden was launched as part of the 'BBC Radio 2 Feel Good Gardens' campaign which aimed to uplif
favourite summer half-hardy annuals Sarah shows us five favourite summer half-hardy annuals for bountiful vases, brilliant containers and scented arrangements. One of my very favourite things at Perch Hill is ou
autumn-flowering chrysanths It's the end of November and I can still fill my arms with flowers. The chrysanthemumsin the garden and in the greenhouse are looking marvellous. Every year I grow them, I like them more, and my chrys
how to get summer colours in an autumn garden Here’s a useful exercise: walk around your garden today and make a note of what’s in flower and still looking good. Then try to think back to when those plants started flowering. Are there
Sarah's favourite bulb combinations I love autumn bulb planting. It’s one of the main opportunities we gardeners have to create our own style signature, to plot a great parade of colour and contrast which will keep us goin
favourite perennials: acanthus 'rue ledan' In this quick video, Sarah talks about one of her favourite perennials, Acanthus 'Rue Ledan'.Look at the size of this acanthus; I’m five foot nine and they’re taller than me, they must be six foot. Th
crop rotation in your veg patch Crop rotation is practised to avoid the build up of pests and diseases, and to make the best of any manures and fertilisers. There are three main groups of veg, and each group, once grown in the garde
how to store or force tender winter veg As the cold weather sets in, it can be a struggle to devise storing systems to keep vegetables through the winter. Having gone to all the trouble of growing them on my productive patch, I want to enj
christmas decorations from the garden It's easy to make Christmas decorations and with just a little work they can look more beautiful than anything you can buy. My favourite way to make easy Christmas decorations is to go out into the ga
how to freeze flowers I like freezing the small edible flowers – anchusas, borage, pansies and violas – in ice or olive oil cubes. Make up different shapes, with some stars as well as rectangles. I know it's go
top tips for picking and arranging roses Roses make beautiful cut flowers but it helps to know some basics on how to pick them and advice on arranging roses for the best effect. Picking roses The trick with roses is to pick them early in t
a simple table centrepiece If you have plenty of rosemary in the garden you can use it to cover drinking tumblers for the table centres in the marquee. Covering a tumbler or medium-sized jam jar (Bonne Maman French jam jars are
a unique christmas flower table arrangement upper level display I'm starting off with some thin-necked, silvered glass bottles, but any tall, narrow bottle or vase would do. These, filled with white wax flower and the odd branch of silver birch
